Fowler is accused of shooting Ciancio, 42, three times in the head with a 9mm Glock handgun when Ciancio came to Fowler Software in unincorporated Adams County to collect $9,900 in severance pay. Ciancio, who was Fowler Software’s chief operating officer, resigned Nov. 23 in a dispute over the way the company was being managed.

Prosecutors said during a preliminary hearing today that Fowler lured Ciancio to his office to commit a murder suicide.

Investigators say Fowler shot Ciancio three times in the head and then shot himself under the chin in attempt to end his own life.

Prosecutors said they found notes written by Fowler to his wife, and also a living will they say indicated he was going to commit suicide after taking Ciancio’s life.

“Fowler took care of his own business before he took care of his own suicide,” the prosecutor said.

Fowler’s attorney said at worst, her client should face second-degree murder charges.

“This was a professional dispute and it was not based on first-degree murder,” defense attorney Sarah Quinn said.

Florida’s state social services agency investigated Nikolas Cruz’s home life more than a year before police say he killed 17 people at his former high school, closing the inquiry after determining that his “final level of risk is low,” despite learning that the teenager had behavioral struggles and was planning to buy a gun, according to an investigative report.